711 Mooc reports

MOOC Reports
MOOC Report 1
Name of the MOOC provider: edX
Name of the course: Design and Development of Educational Technology
Link to the course: https://www.edx.org/course/design-development-
educational-mitx-11-132x#.VQbV4bDF93U
About the course: This course is part of the EdTechX series from the MIT
Education Arcade. It examines educational technologies, outlines the theories
that influenced their development, and examines their use.
Rationale for choosing the MOOC provider and the course:
- The length of the MOOC is six weeks which is convenient for our class
schedule.
- This MOOC explores Educational Technologies that we are all interested in.
Also, it gives an outline of the theories that affected Ed Tech development and
examines their use.
- Each week, the video interviews with experts in the field are provided as course
materials.
- Besides weekly assignments, the MOOC encourages participants complete a
course long project that will demonstrate what they have learned in the course.
- We felt that this course best allowed us to all engage in something we are
interested in while allowing us to bring our own areas of interest to the overall
project.
MOOC Report 2
Activities she/he completed as a lerner within the MOOC
Elif- Week 0 (Getting to know you)
 I completed the activities through the Week 0. Those included reading the
syllabus, an introduction video to the course, course organization, introducing
forums, and pre-course surveys.
 This week's video gives an overview of the topics the instructor will cover during
the course.
 First week also included an activity "Meet your cohort" which provides an
opportunity to know each other. I posted a short paragraph to introduce myself
and read a few peers' posts. Then, I looked up my peers' locations in the peer
location map.
 The pre-survey was not available at this time.
 Course Organization:
 It was interesting to me that in the forum, any participant has the ability to create
and join Groups. I found this feature imprtant because such places encourage
individuals with some similar interest connect and discuss.
 During this week's reading, I also learned that peer assessment have bigger
impact than grades for this specific course. Submitting your own assignment task
requires you to provide feedback to at least three of my classmates. Then, you

can see feedback on your own assignment. It would help to increase student
interaction develop better understanding through peer's lens.
 There is another point that might cause pros and cons: All comments should be
provided according to the rubric. I think it standardizes students' suggestions
which might not be helpful.
Emtinan: I have completed the following lessons and activities for Week 1:
"Everything old is new again"
-History of Educational Technology: I watched a 5-min video
-Constructionism: I watched a 7-min video which introduce the theory of
constructionism (part 1)
-The History of Logo: I watched 7-min video that talks about the history of
programming language Logo (1967 based on Seymour Papert's work)
-Activity Break: Turtle Time. This is a very instresting activity that gave me the
chance to play with the logo programming language, learning by doing is the
main goal of this activity
-Self Assessment: a check list was completed to insure that I am following the
sequesnce of the course (liked the idea)
Vanessa: The following are the activities I completed during Week 0 and Week 1
of our MOOC
Week 0: Getting to Know You
- I watched a short introductory video where the professor introduced the course
and himself. He discussed the purpose of the course and the general layout of
the course.
- I read the Syllabus and learned about the material related to the course
-I completed a pre-course survey
Week 1: Everything Old is New Again
- History of Education Technology
-I posted a short statement about myself in the community forum and also
explored the options available within the forum
-I added myself to the participant map and saw where my peers are learning from
-I added my own ideas to our course word cloud where we are defining ed tech
(pretty cool! - will upload a picture)
-I am in the process of writing a poem and will be able to evaluate my peers work
as well as soon as I submit my own
- Constructionism
-I watched 2 videos on the theory of constructionism and different educational
technology theories
- The History of Logo
-I watched 3 videos which talked about how the programming language Logo
came to be and briefly looked over the readings
- Activity Break: Turtle Time
-Here I got to perform an activity with the programming language Logo; I created
very simple designs, but looked through the galleries and the possibilities of the
program are endless!
- Scratch Programming

-I watched 3 videos on the Scratch programming - I was already familiar with it
due to previous courses at Duquesne
- Self-Assessment
-At the end of each week there is a completion checklist which helps you stay on
track in the course. I think this is very beneficial! It breaks down the readings,
activities, and assignments within each week and keeps track for you over the
entire course.
MOOC Report 3
Vanessa: Week 2: Into the Deep End
This week was also interesting and interactive just as last week. I watched
multiple videos on What Learning Is?, Teaching for Understanding, and Cognitive
Tutors. I do enjoy the short lectures, they are visually pleasing and keep your
attention while listening to the material. The aspect I thoroughly enjoy each week
are the Activity Breaks - I feel that these are the hands-on ways to enforce the
students' learning and allow them to direct their own learning (because many of
these activities are to actually go on your own and do something). The activities
this week included Juggling!; this was a fun way to really think about the process
of learning; and SimCalc; I did not get to explore as much as I wanted but always
love learning about new interactive educational sites we can use in and out of the
classroom. After these videos and activities there was again the assignment and
self-assessment checklist. I really like how this course stays organized with a
consistent format from week to week. As my group members mentioned, I too
feel that the one concern is the amount of written instructions in some parts of
the course. The focus is generally on the video tutorials and when the course
directs you to a site where it is all written, it throws things off a bit. I do not think
this is a horrible aspect of the course, but just a small thought! We are all really
enjoying this course :
Emtinan: The following activities were completed on our MOOC during week 2:
Into the deep end
-What is learning: I watched the video about the theories of learning and how do
people learn
Activity break: learn to juggle. I enjoyed this activity and found it very engaging as
a learner. Although, I’m not good at juggling, it makes you think how people
develop their learning by three main elements: a good instructor, a good
instructional design, and good materials.
-Teaching for understanding: I watched and interview video with David Perkins, a
professor at Harvard university, explains why all educators want to teach for
understanding and how that's different from routine learning. Deep thinking is
being discussed in this video.
-Self Assessment: a check list was completed to insure that I am following the
sequesnce of the course.
This is a vey well-organized course, I actually found myself learning instead of
evaluating. Interesting!

Elif: Week 1-Everything Old is New again activities completed.
1-History of Educational Technology. I watched the History of Educational
Technology video lecture. It was about how technologies used in education have
(or have not) changed the content and procedure of learning and teaching.
2-Construtionism. I watched two video interviews of Constructinoism. I completed
an activity after watching them: Construct a tower.
3-Readings:Educational Theory. I looked at the week’s reading materials and
read two of them. I like the instructor’s comment there: Regarding a participant’s
feedback about an article’s difficulty to read about edu theory, they provided an
alternative reading material. I meant to me that they were open to the
constructive feedbacks from the participants and tried to reconstruct the
materials for students' understanding. On the other hand, I found the articles a bit
outdated.
4-The History of Logo. I watched the two interview videos.
5-Turtle Time: The goal of this activity was to have a personal experience
learning to use a tool in a constructionist way. Within the activity, I had chance to
play around with the logo programming language. There was also a tutorial
website provided for the activity. I think, it was a bit time-consuming because the
website was only providing written instructions. Instead, I would suggest to have
a tutorial video, as well.
6-Self-Assessment: The completion checklist was provided at the end of the
week to help yme keep track of whether I have completed all of the course
activities. I found it very helpful.
MOOC Report 4
Emtinan: These are the activities I completed for week 3: Just Do It.
- Active learning. I watched a video that introduces the idea of active learning. It
includes learners’ autonomy and their reflection on learning experiences.
- Reading active learning. I found a journal article titled “The Computer as a Tool
for Learning through Reflection” that was published in 1986. Another article titled
“Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom” that was published
1991. Online technologies is changing rapidly, we have to keep up with the
changes.
- Geniverse. It’s an online environment (virtual world) for learning genetics for
high school biology. It support independent way learning and enhances
interactivity and engagement among student, which is interesting. Here is the
link: http://demo.geniverse.concord.org/
- StarLogo Nova. In this section, short several videos are provided to explain
Starlogo Nova and how it support students learning.
- Activity Break: simulate this. Just went over it for a quick look.
- The Lifelong Kindergarten. Programming language software to help student
construct their knowledge, collaborate and improve their learning.

- Constructionist Technologies. I watched some videos discuss applications that
incorporate constructionist theory and computational thinking. This is especially
for kids to engage them in the material in an enjoyable way.
- Non-cognitive Skills. I watched a TED talk; it was very interesting and inspiring.
The speaker is a math teacher who realized that IQ wasn’t the only thing
separating the successful students from those who struggled. Here, she explains
her theory of “grit” as a predictor of success.
- Self Assessment. At the end of the week, I completed a checklist, which help
me stay on track in the course.
Elif: The activities I completed for week 3 and some feedback.
-Active learning: I wacthed a video about concept of the active learning.
-Geniverse: In this part of the week, there were 4 videos for students to watch.
The videos were respectively: 8.26, 2.54, 12.41. and 10.41 minutes long. So, for
only this part of the week, students were supposed to spend 30 min with the
videos. My suggestions here would be reducing the number of the videos or the
length and replacing them with materials in defferent versions.
The lifelong Kindergarden: In the course, I've previously worked on
constructionism in week one.This week is following up on that and seeing how
constructionism has evolved over time. And I watched an interview video done
with Mitch Resnick, who’s done a lot with constructionism over the years.
Constructionist Technologies: Matthew Berland, an assistant professor of digital
media at The University of Wisconsin. talks about NetLogo, iPro, VBOT, and
other applications he has worked on that incorporate constructionist theory and
computational thinking. I like the way the course provides an interview with an
expert each time. It might make participants more interested.
Non-cognitive skills: I watched a Ted Talk here in this part which was about
Angela Lee Duckworth’s “grit” theory as a predictor of success. There were two
more videos though. As I mentioned before, I found the videos a lot to watch. I
think that the number of the videos should be reduced in order to increase
students’ motivation through participation.
Vanessa: Week 3 Just DO It
I was looking forward to this week with our MOOC in particular because I have
been involved in working in a simulation lab. The activities that I completed were
watching videos for Active Learning, Geniverse, StarLogo, The Lifelong
Kindergarten, Constructionist Technologies, and Non-Cognitive Skills. This was
my first red light - way too many videos! The videos this week were all on
different interesting topics yet they started to flow together for me. I wish there
were more hands-on activities to break up the week. Along with the amount of
reading suggested, this week seemed like it lagged on. The Activity Break
allowed us to encounter the simulations hands on. However, it just told us to
'explore'. I feel like it would have been more beneficial if it gave us some specific
goals to achieve. Again, the week is completed with a Wrap Up (another video),

an assignment, and a self-Assessment. I like the organization but it is only week
three and I already feel like the course is getting rigid.
MOOC Report 5
Emtinan: These are the activities I completed for week 4: Strength in numbers:
the power of social learning and communities of practice.
- Collaborative learning. I watched a video in this section as Professor Klopfer
introduces the idea of social/collaborative learning. “Communities of practice”
interested concept to read about as it provides many benefits to learning and
teaching.
- Reading: collaborative learning. I went over the readings quickly and I found the
same problem as last weeks. Some articles are very old to include, for example,
an article titled “Paradigm Shifts and Instructional Technology” was published in
1996. Instructional Technology field in changing quickly, readings need to be up-
to-dat.
- Samba schools. This is based on Seymour’s fascination with Samba schools.
Although there was only one video in this section but I found it interesting and at
acceptable length.
- Experts on group learning. There is also one video to watch in this section but it
very long (around 24 minutes). This can be overwhelming.
- Vanished. There is also one video to watch in this section that talks about
Vanished, an alternate reality game in which middle school students all over the
world worked together to solve a fictional scientific mystery. The video is about
15 minutes long; this can be too much for some.
- Online learning: Research on MOOCs. This is vey relevant to what we’re doing
here. This section provides a brief history of online learning experiences and
MOOCs; then talks about self-pacing, community building, and other factors that
are important in MOOC design. Two videos in this section provided, and a total of
about 30 minutes long. This can be also overwhelming. The reading materials
are more recent here.
Vanessa: Week 4: Strength in Numbers
This week the focus was on social learning. I felt that overall, I was not satisfied
with this week. Not the amount, but the length of the videos was very
overwhelming and I did not get to watch them all. The activities I did this week
were Collaborative Learning (video - this one okay and interesting) and then the
Collaborative Readings. There were three articles in this section but I also was
concerned with the date of the 1996 book because of the relevance to todays
technology which is ever-changing. Next was Samba Schools and I enjoyed
watching this video. The Experts on Group Learning is where I started to feel a
but overwhelmed and uninterested in the learning. The Activity Break: Pair
Project was very interesting to me! I think it allowed the learners to interact with
the weekly lesson and it also had goals included in the instructions. The

remainder of the week all included videos which I skimmed through just because
they were very long. I think the week could have been more beneficial if it
allowed us to interact more socially with other MOOC learners and/or our own
peers from our various locations.
MOOC Report 6
Emtinan: These are the activities I completed for week 5: put it to the test: the
present and future of educational technology assessment.
- What is assessment? There are three short videos in this section. The first one,
students talk about what they think assessments are, what they look like, and
what they can measure. The second one is an interview with an expert that
explains about the format and function of assessments, describing formative,
summative, and performance assessments. The third one is talks about Pop
Quiz activity break.
- Technology and assessment. In this section, there are 5 videos that add up to
almost 40 minutes which is too much. The content is very interesting though, as it
talks about how video games can be incorporated in assessments.
- Readings: the state of assessment. I went over the readings materials and
found that they are up-to-date unlike the previous weeks.
- Science learning by inquiry. There are two 9 min videos in this section which
are quite long. It talks about talks about Inq-ITS, an environment capable of
assessing science inquiry skills.
- Choice-based assessments. There are two 12 min videos in this section (too
much). They talk about the importance of ensuring of measuring what we really
want to be measuring in educational assessments, also the idea of preparation
for future learning, and some of the game-based assessments, called choice-
based assessments.
- Future of assessment. In this section, there is one 20 min video (the longest
video in this week) that talks about new learning standards and frameworks that
are being developed and implemented to focus on not only content and skills but
also practices. There are also interviews with a number of experts who discuss
the new opportunities and challenges that these advances present for the future
of assessment.
Elif: The activities I competed for week 5:
This week, In the first part of the course, What is Assessment?, several videos
are presented to the students. The experts defined assessment, types of
assessment, and where to use them in the interviews. I watched the introduction
video and types of assessment video to get a sense of the topic.
Then, I spent some time with the Activity Break, Pop Quiz. I realized that the
activity does not provide an assessment for the previous videos completed by the
students. It focuses on the types of assessment from a different perspective:
Traditional vs. Game-based assessment. There were 6 activity websites for each

type of assessment for students to explore and compare weaknesses and
strengths. One of the activity websites for game based assessment was linked to
an article, not a game.
There was a discussion based on five open ended questions at the end of the
activity break. I like the way the questions stated and found them stimulating
thinking.
Self Assessment. At the end of the week, I completed the completion checklist
ehich is helpful to stay on track.
Vanessa: Week 5 - Put it To The Test
During this week I got very tired of all of the videos. I did not watch all of them,
and skipped over some parts of the ones I did watch. The section What Is
Assessment? was the first task and I did watch those videos. The Activity Break:
Pop Quiz was one aspect I enjoyed this week. I thought it was very interesting to
compare and contrast two different assessment styles, more traditional and more
innovative game-based. I definitely saw the pros and cons of both styles, but
personally enjoyed the game-based approach more. The remainder of the week
included readings and more videos. The videos were far too long for me to enjoy.
A positive was that the readings for the week were not outdated and seemed to
be interesting reads (I skimmed through them all). The week ended again with a
self-assessment and a checklist to make sure I was staying on track as a learner.
I wish there were more hands-on activities or exploration in order to keep my
interest in the course.
MOOC Report 7
Emtinan: These are the activities I completed for week 6: The proof is in the
pudding: design-based research on ed tech projects.
- Design-based research. There are three videos in this section (a total of 25 min
long) that talks about the motivations for researching educational technology
initiatives, focusing mainly on design-based research. One main issue that I
found in this section in the reading materials, as one article titled “Overview of
educational research methods” was published in 1969.
- Readings: origins of DBR. I went over the reading materials in this section and I
found an article titled “Toward a Design Science of Education” was published in
1990.
- Biograph. There are three videos in this sections (total of almost 30 min) that
discusses the Biograph project, which teaches high school biology with complex
systems. It also discusses the curriculum and the research project.
- Course wrap-up. The last section of this course include one video that review
the current state of educational technologies and how new technologies and
techniques on the horizon may still lead to a big impact in the future.

Elif: This week, I completed week 6 activities: The proof is in the pudding:
design-based research.
-I viewed the video lectures in following parts: Design-based research and
Biograph.
-Reading materials: I found this part appropriate for learners to engage because
the number of readings were limited to three including one additional, and two
required articles.
Activity: This time, I found a few things missing in the activity break. There was
no specific goal to visit the websites (provided as a part of activity). Also, the
instructor should provide specific instructions and specify the readings and
videos (materials) to engage in those websites rather than expecting students to
go and explore by themselves.
In this week, I especially liked the Live Event about the Project critiques. The
instructor(s) and students met online on Hangout and discussed about the Final
Course Project. From the students' comments, I can see that the session was
very helpful!

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